Archives

Furious 7 (2015)

According to a military expert who worked on Reagan’s Star Wars project, stopping a missile in mid-flight is like trying to shoot down a speeding bullet. It is nigh impossible. Well, in FF7, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Hobbs) stopped one with a ambulance truck. That’s how ridiculous this movie is; definitely on par with The Expendables franchise as far as believability is concerned. And definitely enjoyable.

The action sequences are so far-out that when Vin Diesel (Dominic Torreto) was being revived at the brink of death, no one in the audience was the least bit concerned. Except perhaps at the possibility of Johnson performing the mouth-to-mouth instead of Michelle Rodriguez (Letty). Of course, in the end, Diesel made it alive.

Jason Statham (Deckard Shaw) is the badass villain, who plays the role very well (almost to a comical degree). Anyone vaguely familiar with his acting chops knows he’s not quite Oscar material. Still, between him and Vin Diesel, I couldn’t help but cheer for the villain. That’s how bad Diesel’s acting was, and that’s probably a good thing for a movie like FF7. Because, like any thrill ride, this is something you can’t enjoy if you take it too seriously.

If you’re looking for a deep story line, look somewhere else. You don’t even need to see the first 6 films to understand what’s going on, though the references certainly add to the enjoyment. The trailer pretty much tells everything. You kinda know where this is going. The only chance this movie had at actually being worth watching, therefore, was all those points in-between the trailer that viewers haven’t seen. The journey had better be fun, if you already know the destination. And boy, it was. Tyrese Gibson (Roman) stole the show from the star-studded cast with his unending string of funny comments that always hit the mark. From his pretend alpha-male issues to his race jokes, the fun factor is taken up a notch.

The whole movie is about an angry bad guy chasing a bunch of cool guys (and gals) with cool cars who apparently can break the law and still be chummy with the law officials, and a kidnapped hacker who can activate a super weapon thrown in the mix. Yes, that was a bit of a spoiler, but I’m sure you would’t mind. That’s not really the point of the movie. As Vin Diesel said, “…it ain’t just about being fast.” It’s really about enjoying the ride – a good blast of modern action and adventure lasting 2-and-a-half hours.

PS. Some scenes of Paul Walker do seem to be digitally altered, if you look closely enough. He was a integral part of the franchise, and some chemistry will be lost forever with his passing. He certainly deserved the beautiful tribute at the end. And if you intend to google images of Levy Tran, the race starter, be warned: even with safe search on, the hits are not safe for work.